Burari deaths: Signs of shared psychosis difficult to detect, say experts

It has been a week since Burari’s mass suicide for salvation rocked the nation. Varied theories including murder, involvement of baba/tantrik and occult emerged till police investigation based shared psychosis as the main premise behind the deaths. Numerous scribbling in the registers recovered from the Chundawat’s house, point at one of the deceased, Lalit’s delusions that his dead father was communicating with him through these notes. The unfounded and bizarre belief was also transferred to other family members, who blindly believed him, thus suffering from shared psychotic disorder (folie à deux).

Experts point out that since prominent signs like hallucination, violent behaviour, that are prevalent in other extreme form of illnesses including schizophrenia, are not visible in delusional disorder, Lalit’s illness went undetected. 

“The main symptom is the patient’s inability to tell fantasy from reality. He starts living in an imaginary world. They misinterpret experiences, some of which may or may not occur. They have an unshakeable belief in false notions. And their sense of life is also highly exaggerated,” says Prof Nisha Minocha, a Chandigarh-based psychiatrist. She also sheds light on the fact that such patients continue to socialise and lead lives normally, without behaving in an anomalous manner, explaining why neither Lalit’s relatives nor friends could detect anything out of the ordinary. “You can never detect this disorder because these are his private thoughts. A neighbour who talk about aliens visiting him, could well be suffering from this disorder,” she says.

While how the entire family was convinced to participate in a futile quest, which was based purely on superstition, is baffling, psychologists say submissive people give into the demands of the inducer, in this case Lalit. “The family members were submissive and passive. Lalit who was dominant in the relationship, gradually transferred his beliefs on them. The proximity of the inducer and the induced also plays a vital role, with most cases of shared psychotic disorder seen in blood relations and people married for a long time,” says Jessica Warren, psychologist with Medius Health shares.

Sociologists, meanwhile, offer an insight into a largely god-fearing society that sees the almighty as the panacea to every ailment. The family’s faith in god was conditioned by the society’s outlook towards religion. 

“We lay a lot of emphasis on god being the answer to all our problems. This was perhaps coupled with their emotionally vulnerable state after the demise of the patriarch. They thought praying will alleviate every sorrow and offer ready solutions to all their problems,” feels Aarti Mohan, a sociologist based in Bengaluru.